Water-wheel



R. DANIELS.

WATER WHEEL.

No. 17,426. Patented JuneZ, 1857.

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I [KM WW 7 r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REUBEN DANIELS, OF \VOODSTOOK, VERMONT.

WATER-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,426, dated June 2, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REUBEN DANIELS, of lVooclstock, in the county of\Vindsor and State of Vermont, have inventeda new and useful Improvementin Horizontal TaterlVheels; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being hadto the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichFigure 1, is a vertical section of my improvement, the plane of sectionis through the center, as indicated by the line 02, 00, Fig. 2. Fig. 2,is a horizontal section of the ditto, y, Fig. 1, showing the plane ofsection.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding arts in the twofigures.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvent-ion, I will proceed to describe it.

This invention consists in the employment of a wide flanch, placed abovethe upper ends of the buckets, for the purposes and in the mannerhereinafter described.

A, Fig. 1, represents a proper framing, in

which a vertical shaft, B, is secured, and C is the wheel attached tothe lower part of said shaft.

The bottom, a, of the wheel is formed of a solid circular plate, and thebuckets, b, are attached to the edge of said plate and to a. fianch, c,which forms the upper part of the wheel,-the flanch, c, projecting overthe plate a, a distance equal to the width of the orifice, through whichthe water escapes, to act upon the buckets. This will be understood byreferring to Fig. 1, in which D represents the flume suspended withinthe wheel, and E the gate atthe end, or orifice, of the flume, theorifice of the flume being at the inner side of the buckets. Or anyother contrivance may be applied-whether stationary, and extendingaround the wheel, or so far in the direction of the motion of the wateras the water shall pass within the wheel, before escaping therefrom,orattached to the buckets and revolving with the wheel,by which the space,or nearly the entire space, above the buckets, from the outer edge ofthe buckets to the inner edge of the orifice through which the waterescapes from the flume D within the Wheel, when opened to its fullextent, shall be covered, and thereby the water guided and controlled inits forward motion, so as to act directly upon the buckets, until itshall all escape through the wheel by its centrifugal force :althoughthe mode above described is believed to be the best for accomplishingthis purpose.

Nearly all water wheels are furnished with narrow flanches forsupporting the ends of the buckets. These flanches or rims are usuallymerely of the width of the buckets, extending from the outer ends of thesame, as indicated by the red lines in Fig. 2. But in no wheel is theflanch extended so as to have a width sufiicient to cover the mouth ofthe flume as in my improvement. The space between the red and blue linesindicates the increased extension of my flanch (0) over the commonflanch.

The buckets, b, are of curved form, similar to those commonly employedfor turbine wheels. The water passes through the fiume D, and acts uponthe inner sides of the buckets and passes between them and escapes atthe outer side of the wheel. The flanch c confines the watersufficiently, so that it is all made to act against the buckets, as itpasses out of the flume.

The ordinary wheels are placed within a special scroll, which confinesthe water around the wheel, the water acting upon the buckets at theouter side of the wheel and passing into the wheel and out at itscenter. It will be seen, that in these wheels the water produces aresistance, which must be overcome by the wheel, and therefore a certainamount of power is lost, when the wheel is working under the full forceof the water; but when the gate is partially closed, the loss isproportionally much greater,for the scroll being filled at all times,and the wheel being subjected to the same resistance with a decreasedsupply or pressure of water, it follows, as a matter of course, that themaximum power obtained will be proportionally much less, than thecorresponding diminution of the supply of water to the wheel. There aresome wheels in which the water is admitted within the wheel andconfined. therein by a cover, or top; but these wheels, also, are liableto the same objection as the former. The wheel carries around the waterwithin it, and, consequently, is subjected to considerable resistance.In my improvement the water acts upon the buckets, and is discharged assoon as its effective power is ex pended upon them. The water does notdrag upon the wheel, or is not carried around by it. The water forms ascroll by its own action, or by centrifugal force.

It is well known that, if rapid rotary motion be given to an open bucketwhich is partially filled with water, the liquid will, by centrifugalforce, be thrown out from the center of the vessel, and will rise,climb, and distribute itself evenly over the entire inner surface ofthe'vessel, and escape over the edge thereof. The vacuum formed in thecenter, by the discharge of the water, is freely filled by the air. Ifthe top of the said vessel is provided with a cover, with an opening inits center for the admittance of air, the liquid will. be prevented fromescaping. It will be thrown or distributed in a solid, even columnagainst the sides of the bucket. If openings are made in the sides ofthe'bucket, the water will be discharged through them, but the same evendistribution of the water'against the sides of the wheel will continue;the sheet or column of water will become'gradually reduced in thicknessuntil it is all discharged. My wheel may be regarded as a vessel havingopenings at the sides for the discharge of the water; the flanch (0)being the top or cover, with an air entrance in the center; the flanchserving to prevent the water from escaping over the top of the wheel andcompelling it to be thrown against the sides of the wheel, anddischarged through the buck ets. \Vhen thus thrown against or confinedto the sides of the wheels, it is distributed in an even sheet. The airenters through the open center and fills the vacuum formed by thedischarge of the water; the air thus forms a sort of negative back tothe water. The water is thus compelled to act with its fullest eifectagainst the buckets. bucket or vessel be filled partially by water, andscaled up tight, save an opening in the side, and submitted to rotarymotion, the water will not readily escape through said opening, becausethe tendency of such discharge will be to form a vacuum in the center,and as there will be no central supply of air to fill said vacuum, theair will seek to enter through the discharge orifice. Thus the dischargeof the water would be resisted by a counter inward pressure of airthrough the same orifice. The ordinary center sup- If a.

ply wheels are sealed up like the vessel just described. But the fillingof the required vacuum in the center is done by the supply of water. Thewheel must therefore be so fed as to be kept full of water, or it cannotoperate. In the common center vent wheels, the scroll must be kept fullof water, or the wheel will not operate. Neither of these defects existin my wheel; for the water is evenly distributed over the innerperiphery of the wheel, in a solid column or sheet, and the movement ofthe wheel is not dependent upon keeping the wheel full of water, norupon keeping the scroll or flume filled. My wheel will therefore workadvanta-geously under a supply of water that would be. too small todrive the other class Wheels just mentioned.

I am aware that it is common in all wheels to bind or hold the ends ofthe buckets by means of narrow rims which cover the ends of the buckets,and therefore I do not claim such rims. I

I also disclaim broadly confining the stream of water to its effectivecourse. An example of this is seen in E. Parkers patent, dated July 24:,1847.

I also disclaim broadly the admitting of water within the wheel anddischarging from its periphery, as such wheels are in general use.

I also disclaim any special form of the buckets.

I also disclaim every feature of the within-described invention which isseen in any other water wheel of this class. But, to the best of mybelief, no wheel has ever been made, of the class now shown, in which afianch (0) was employed in the manner and for the purpose hereindescribed. The use of such a flanch causes the wheel to present newvirtues of a great and important character.

Therefore what I claim as new in water wheels, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is:

The use of a fianch (c), or its equivalent, 100

in the manner and for the purposes herein substantially described.

REUBEN DANIELS. Witnesses:

PETER J. WAsHBURN, JAMES J. NOBLE,

